The Division of TA Resources (DTAR), in conjunction with participating departments, offers graduate students and other instructors at the University of Houston the opportunity to earn a Certificate upon completion of an extensive professionalization program in college teaching, which culminates with the submission of a comprehensive teaching portfolio to the Center for Teaching Excellence and the home department and will qualify the participant for certification and can serve as the basis for his dossier for future teaching jobs.
Completion of a teaching portfolio and all related requirements will give the participants the necessary tools to become better, more reflective teachers, will help to prepare graduate students and other instructors for entry into a competitive job market, and will serve to recognize their teaching accomplishments at the University of Houston.
The intent of the program is to support teaching assistants by assisting and documenting their professional development in the following ways:
Informing them of pedagogical best practices, and helping them to implement these practices in their own teaching;
Providing observations and other forms of feedback and consultation on their classroom activities;
Organizing and documenting their participation in a variety of professionalization activities;
At the same time, DTAR provides guidance and support for students as they assess, document, and reflect upon their professional development in the following ways:
gathering their self-reflections on teaching, and
collecting evidence of their effectiveness in teaching.